Nomura gives status update on Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Tetsuya Nomura﻿ has tweeted an update on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, reassuring us that it’s still on track. The game’s director spoke of the difficulties in designing the game and explained that the silence surrounding Final Fantasy Versus XIII was due to the game being behind other titles (such as The 3rd birthday) “in order.

Development on the game is still going strong and voice casting has just begun.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII’s “birth” hasn’t exactly been straightforward, the development team found that many of their tried and tested methods, used on other Final Fantasy games, weren’t applicable this time round. Nomura does stress that these were only issues during the game’s early development stages:

“Versus has had many difficulties, and past method of production have been completely inapplicable, but these are the difficulties of birth, so we are working hard. We have a lot to announce, but because we’re going in order, I can’t say too much yet.”

Square Enix prioritise the promotion of their games in the order of their release, that’s the reason for the silence surrounding Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Square Enix currently have a busy schedule with two PSP titles in development: The 3rd Birthday – a long awaited third entry for the Parasite Eve series – and another Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Both games appear to be ahead of Final Fantasy Versus XIII in order of release.

Kingdom of Hearts: Birth by Sleep is also due to be released next month across the rest of the world, it’s been out in in Japan since January this year. Nomura even has some unannounced titles on the go, he’s clearly a very busy man:

“There are a number of unannounced titles. These will come before Agito and Versus. Some have finished voice recording. Announcements will take place in Japan.”

The director did reveal more details on Final Fantasy Versus XIII’s world. It’s been previously reported that the game will have an overworld map, like the ones featured in previous Final Fantasy games, Nomura explains this further:

“There have been many questions regarding fields. It’s not a completely open world. It’s like the 2D FF games in HD. Although, in terms of looks, it’s not a top-down view, it’s like the screenshots that have been released. You’ll move through the world from that view.”

While these scenes aren’t widely available to show on the internet, the scenes have been explained in detail by Andriasang.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII is now undergoing voice casting, Nomura revealed while discussing the different development styles between Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII:

“Agito and Versus have different production styles and progress states, but they’re both presently undergoing voice casting. 3rd’s recording will end shortly. Next up is Agito.”